Customer Reviews

To Live: A Novel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being that I am living and working in China for the next year or so I've decided that I need to become more familiar with the country's history and literature. Now I am not completely clueless when it comes to Chinese history and literature, but, for the most part, the undergraduate and graduate classes that I have taken that pertain to China concern the centuries before the fall of the Chinese dynastical system of government. While I do enjoy reading the literature and studying the history of this vast time period, I feel that I lack knowledge that pertains to modern Chinese.

Therefore in recent months I've picked up a number of recent Chinese novels and books pertaining to modern China with hope that I can enrich myself during the next several months. Well, Wei Hui's Shanghai Baby and Chun Sue's Beijing Doll, although they are entertaining and give the reader a glimpse of attractive gold diggers and Beijing's underground punk-rock scene, they do not give the reader a foundation on how recent history, Post-1945, or when the Japanese were defeated and driven from China, has affected modern society. However, in their defense, this was not the goal the authors wanted to obtain. Yet, after I picked up and read Yu Hua's To Live, with the desire to read literature with a more historical aspect in mind, my thirst was quenched.

Before I purchased To Live I knew little about its author Yu Hua, but I did know the novel was the basis for Zhang Yimou's movie of the same title. Having been introduced to the novelists Liu Heng, writer of the novella that was the basis of Ju Dou, Su Tong, writer of the novella that was the basis of Raise the Red Lantern, and Mo Yan, writer of the novel that was the basis for Red Sorghum, through Zhang Yimou's films, I believed that I could not go wrong with To Live. I was right. This is a beautiful book.

The novel opens with a nameless first-person narrator telling the reader of his old job that consisted of traveling and collecting folksongs and old stories. The villagers were generally happy to see him and were completely willing to relay stories of their past days. Although he enjoyed their stories, the narrator had yet to find a person who could completely recreate his past. However, after he met an old farmer named Fugui who was busy plowing his fields and kindly coaxing his old ox to work, his desire was satiated.

In his younger days, like his father before him, Fugui had been the epitome of the prodigal son. Spending his days whoring and gambling, Fugui wasted huge amounts of money. However, it seems that he enjoyed himself, doing such things as riding a fat prostitute piggyback and ordering her to take him around town. His father was of course upset, but having been of a similar bent himself during his younger days, he did not protest too much. In the eyes of Jiazhen, his lovely, but pregnant, wife, his mother, and his little girl, Fengxia he could do no wrong. However, when a professional gambler named Long Er made the scene, things truly began to go bad. Fugui had at first been able to pay his debts on the spot, but eventually he had to put everything on credit that eventually resulted in him losing the family's ancestral land to Long Er. The loss of the family's ancestral land was too much for Fugui's father to handle, so he passed away in despair. After Long Er moved into the family home, Fugui moved his family into a ramshackle shack and is forced to rent some land from Long Er. Even though he lost them everything, Fugui's family, now with a son, Youqing, loved him. However, after his mother becomes ill, Fugui goes to town to fetch a doctor, but while he is there, he is forcefully conscripted into the Nationalist Army and is forced to march north to fight the Communists. However, the Communists surround his company, along with many others, and hundreds of soldiers are killed each day. Yet Fugui never fights a Communist. Instead he is too busy fighting his fellow Nationalists for rice and flatbread. Eventually The Communists are victorious and Fugui is allowed to return home. His family is glad to receive him, but he soon learns that his mother has died and Fengxia has gone deaf and mute because of a high fever. Forlorn because he knows if he had been such a Prodigal Son his family would have had money for medicine and doctors, Fugui is shocked when the Communists march into town and execute Long Er as an evil rich landowner. Fugui's life was saved because he had wasted the family's fortune. However, with People's Communes, The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and many other more personal crises over the horizon, maybe it would have been better for Fugui to die as a rich landowner instead of a poor peasant. The last statement might be true for some, but not Fugui. This is where the magic of Yu Hua's novel truly shines. Fuqui's determination "to live" is astounding. It might not be a great life, but he is alive and is determined to make the most of it.

Sad and humorous, Yu Hua's first novel stands as both a testament to life and as an outline that shows how millions suffered from 1945-76. While not pointing blame at anything particular, Yu Hua's novel is definitely a critical piece of literature. To Live depicts the lives of poor peasants whose only desire was to survive, however, in a world in which the old, a geomancer, and the new, a sixteen-year-old female member of the Red Guard, could destroy their lives, even this simple but vital desire was put in danger. The novel is quite gripping and should be read by those interested in modern Chinese history or just fine literature in general..

"To Live" is a book that's hard to explain. The writing, at first, seems overly simplistic, but as you read, you find yourself carried along by the narrators unvarnished description of events. "To Live" is a book that will make you cry. I finished it in two days, and afterwards I felt like I was a mute, waiting for everything to sink in. That's the mark of an amazing book. Like all of Yu Hua's books, "To Live" is a story that sticks with you long after you close the covers and put it on your shelf.

Be warned though, "To Live" not a book for the faint of heart. This book hits you in the gut. If you don't mind a little literary pain, then "To Live" is more than worth it.

Having decided to make a conscious effort to read modern Chinese literature, this is the first novel I picked up because I had liked the movie. I was not disappointed. Yu Hua tells the story of a Chinese peasant, Fugui, and his struggles beginning during the Chinese Civil War and ending sometime after the Cultural Revolution. The horror and tragedy that Fugui and his family endures is horrific, and through it all, Fugui knows he has one goal...To Live.

I am not sure if it is Yu Hua's writing style or the translation, but the text can be choppy, which is both a positive and a negative. On one hand, it allows passages, thoughts, and emotions to sneak up on you, completely surprising you. One sentence you feel everything is okay, and the next Yu knocks the breath out of you with a blithe mention of tragedy. On the other hand, it seems at times the Chinese should not have been translated so literally, and it can be a hindrance on the rhythm of the novel. For example, where Chinese says "kids", we would say "children", and vice versa. This happens throughout the novel enough to make it clear that this is not written in the language it is intended to be...hence the fifth star is missing.

Before I scare you away from this book with all the talk of tragedy, this story in the end is a hopeful and optimistic one. Fugui's indomitable spirit carries through this theme.

I also found it interesting from a political and hisotorical point of view, as the reader gets to witness, albeit peripherally, a peasants reactions to the chaos surrounding him.

Highly recommended.

This marvelous and touching novel is a timeless family epic that, while written originally for a Chinese-reading audience, is slowly reaching out around the world to readers in English, French and German. It's a book about life, love, family, dreams, the very stuff of what propels all of us, and Yu Hua's magic touch with words is something to behold. You won't forget this kind of book for a long, long time, once you've finished and the publisher deserves some nice kudos for bringing it out in English, finally.
You will see yourself in Fugui and his family, since they are
familiar to all of us in their own way, and it just goes to show how it really is a Global Village after all. All in all, a book for the ages, and especially, for now!

"To Live" aptly characterizes this novel from Yu Hua. Fugui, the main protagonist, is subject to a myriad of repressive elements that subjugate his freedom; all he can really do is go on and survive: gambling, drinking, prostitution, WW2, communism, Cultural Revolution all intervene in his life with significant effects. While his life seems miserable, he maintains hope and survives. The novel conflates what it means to survive in a historcal framework in China. To live, implies to suffer through upheaval and poverty that will inevitably instigate tragedy. It is a life lived in the trap that the world has become.

The narrative is simple and straightforward. Yu Hua deftly creates character and plots effectively. The only other Chinese novel I have read is Dai Sijie; it had a similar pacing and narrative style. I highly suggest both.

I have read the book in both languages and I must say the original version is much more stunning.
Many see this book as critical of the Chinese government, which it is in some ways, but the human courage remains the central theme. Historic background is only background. The the evils of the Cultural Revolution is widely known in China as well as other historical backgrounds in the book. All I want is for readers to read this book as an individual, looking into the pain and suffering of other individual, instead from an Western ideology, American national narritive point of view.
The book is touching as a human epic.

The author explains in writing at the back of the novel that he listened to an old Negro spiritual about Old Black Joe, a slave and his trials in life, and that this song inspired him to write the story of Fugui and his trials in life, even though the two figures are from different cultures and different times. Having read this compelling, lovely, and moving novel, I find myself wholly seeing the truth in the author's statement. Both Old Black Joe and Fugui are human, want to live, and yet both have had to reckon with fate and suffering.

While several critics have touted how this novel covers four decades of Chinese history, labeling each movement in time with names like the Second Sino-Japanese War and the founding of the People's Republic, those who are familiar with recent Chinese history do not to know what these historical events are when reading this story and for those who do not know recent Chinese history, the story is just as good as if they knew because, pervading the whole story, there is a mythical quality that is almost perfectly focused on the timeless. Whatever historical scenes then the author depicts, those scenes rarely are given their historical names or dates -- except once, on page 100, the author (unforgivably, in my estimation) mentions the date of 1958, writing "In 1958 the people's communes were established." If only the author could have given the reader this idea without dating it! Nowhere else in the story is there any sense of that kind of time, though there is one other exception that bears mentioning as well: the author refers to the historical figure of Chiang Kai-Shek by name -- twice. The parable-like, timeless quality of the entire novel is destroyed when the author offers these shocking, historical bits of datum, though the story itself is not utterly destroyed. Consequently, the author's esthetic isn't artistically consistent or complete -- but it almost is.

Unlike Old Black Joe, Fugui starts out in life being a spoiled rich man's son, though his destiny is to be a kind of slave, albeit poor farmer and one full of suffering. I have watched people in movie theaters literally and genuinely cry copious amounts of tears watching the travails and sufferings of all the imaginary characters of, say, Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind" on the screen -- for the white as well as the black characters in the story. But I myself never was so moved watching that story pass by on screen. Yu Hua's story here, however, was a whole other matter for me. I was caught -- and surprised -- so deeply by tears as the tale slowly unfolds -- and never predictably -- that I almost felt I couldn't take the pain myself, vicarious as it already was. The reader will live with Fugui and his family and will understand.

It's clear by tale's end that Fugui is a man who is bound to life and who simply persists in the desire to live, despite all his losses and failures. It chronologically covers more than 4 decades of change and strife in a man's life. The plot is episodic and chronologic, yet it flows like a river that has been created from sweat and tears.

I'd like to mention just one other flaw of Yu Hua's esthetic for this novel. The viewpoint is mythical, timeless (with the two exceptions mentioned above). The reader learns early exactly what class Fugui initially belonged to and what class he later fell into and never rose from. In fact, we all know that Fugui is a poor farmer. Given that being a poor farmer is also a mythical kind of figure, it was an error esthetically for the author to write this on page 178 , where he inexplicably needs to explain his subject -- and does it wrong!:

"We were just your average everyday folk. It wasn't that we didn't care about national issues, it was simply that we didn't understand that kind of stuff. We would listen to the team leader in the same way that the team leader would listen to the higher-ups. All it took was one word from the higher-ups and we'd all think and do whatever they wanted."

First, Fugui is not "your average everyday folk." Others who are average showed much less resilience and cowardice in the story; one even commits suicide. Not Fugui. Secondly, the reference to "national issues" seems to come out of nowhere. Nobody in this story once gives a hoot about "national issues." It's obvious from the very beginning, so why mention it? It does nothing to enhance the story or the reader's understanding. Thirdly, and lastly, the idea that "we'd all think and do whatever THEY wanted" (my emphasis) makes Fugui and the rest around him merely --- sheeple --- not even slaves, mindless drones, a notion so disgusting and revolting, why would anyone care to read a novel about such a person? No, it was wrong that Yu Hua kept this passage in his novel as it undercuts pretty much everything that the reader comes to know, love and understand about Fugui, his family, and this culture. It may be, according to Yu Hua's insights into Chinese culture, that they are all a bunch of mindless sheeple who will think whatever they are told to think, but this has nothing to do with the story of an Oriental Old Black Joe and the sufferings he went through.

This novel was exceptional in its sad beauty and its narrative drive. Maybe in future, the author will do a little bit more clipping of certain passages to make it absolutely perfect.

Read through it in about 2 days. The simple story-telling technique of the author is refreshing and the novel moves along at a fast pace. The details are not sparred, as we get an excellent idea of what Fugui went through in his full and amazing life. I'm going to read "Chronicles of a Blood Merchant" next. Don't miss this one. Really hits home in this material world we all live in.

The characters become more than just players in a game on paper,...they come to life and live in your imagination,..they become your friends and family. It is an easy read, you wont want to put it down. Well worth every cent I paid for the book.

Fugui Xu is born to a wealthy family in China toward the beginning of the twentieth century. Fugui is the typical rich reprobate as a young man - he has a wife, baby, and elderly parents, but this does not stop him from spending all his time in whorehouses and gambling halls. Fugui does not even bother to keep track of his losses until one night, when Fugui learns he has squandered his family's considerable fortune, land, and home. The family must now transition from a life of affluence to that of the poorest farmers. Before long, this devastation is revealed to be a blessing, however, when the revolution occurs and landlords are executed - Fugui is very aware that the man he lost his fortune to has been killed in his place. As communism is established and decades pass for Fugui who, despite the political and social upheavals of this time, is primarily concerned with his family. They face hardships and tragedy, wanting not their previous fortune or political power, but just to live.

Quote: "Fengxia would often pull me by the hand and ask, 'Dad, a table has four corners. If you shop off one corner, how many are left?' I don't know where Fengxia had heard this, but when I said three corners, Fengxia would smile ear to ear and laugh uncontrollably. She would say, 'Wrong! There are five corners left!'"

Grade: B+
Review: To Live is a classic work of the unrelentingly sad variety. The main character finds that when fate takes everything else away from you, living is enough. I liked this work because all though it is set in a political and historical context, the reader for the most part is only subtly aware of it - the context impacts the lives of the characters, but Fugui is not much concerned with communism or democracy or reform - he is concerned with the next harvest, not with who is in power in China. For a man living through the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists, land reform, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, Fugui has no political leanings to speak of. He does not generally blame his misfortunes on those in power, even when their choices impact him and his family so negatively, but rather chalks his circumstances up to fate. An interesting, fairly brief look at one man in China, living through (and despite), some of the biggest upheavals in the nation's recent history.